American Sleep Medicine will pay $15,301,341 to resolve allegations that it billed Medicare, TRICARE – the health care program for Uniformed Service members, retirees and their families worldwide – and the Railroad Retirement Medicare Program for sleep diagnostic services that were not eligible for payment.

American Sleep, headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., owns and operates 19 diagnostic sleep testing centers throughout the United States, including in Alabama, California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

The company’s primary business is to provide testing for patients suffering from sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea.

The test results are used by doctors to determine the most appropriate course of treatment for patients.

The most common tool used to diagnose sleep disorders, particularly sleep apnea, is a procedure called polysomnographic diagnostic sleep testing.

Under federal program requirements for the reimbursement of claims submitted for sleep disorder testing, initial sleep studies must be conducted by technicians who are licensed or certified by a state or national credentialing body as sleep test technicians.

Federal officials alleged taht Medicare and TRICARE claims submitted by American Sleep during this period were false because the diagnostic testing services were performed by technicians who lacked the required credentials or certifications, when it knew this violated the law.

The allegations were raised in a lawsuit filed against American Sleep under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act.

Whistleblower Daniel Purnell will receive $2,601,228 for bringing the case to the government’s attention.